


He Likes A Laugh, Your Brother

by LittleRose13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus can't sleep, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Gryffindor the Dragon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 22:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12375423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRose13/pseuds/LittleRose13
Summary: “And you don’t want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts.” Harry put in. “He likes a laugh, your brother.”Albus Potter can't sleep, Harry sets some of James' wilder stories straight.





	He Likes A Laugh, Your Brother

_3_ _rd_ _May, 2011_

Harry shifted the enormous pile of parchment containing the report he was supposed to be reading to the middle of his desk and sighed at the thought of it. It had gone nine and he knew it would take at least two more hours to finish the report; some of these junior aurors were just a bit too keen.

As he resigned himself to opening the first page, he heard a soft tapping on the door of his office.

"Come in." He called out, slightly confused as to why Ginny was knocking. He knew it was her as the children were already in bed.

The door opened slowly to reveal five-year-old Albus, complete with his beloved stuffed dragon, Gryffindor. The young boy peered around the door, his wide, green eyes finding his father and relaxing when he did so. His striped pyjamas were just a little bit too long for him, the ends of the legs rolled up around his skinny ankles until he grew into them.

"Daddy?" He whispered.

"Hey Al." Harry smiled and gestured for him to come over. His bare-footed son padded across the study carefully, stopping when he reached Harry, who had put down the report and turned away from his desk. "Why are you out of bed?"

"Me and Gwyffindor can't sleep." Albus replied simply, clutching the dragon tightly, crossing one foot over the other and fidgeting.

"You can't sleep? Well that is a bit of a problem seeing as it's now past your bedtime." Harry cocked his head to one side with a pointed look. Albus stared back. Harry was used to this tactic as he had encountered it many times before when any one of his three children wanted to stay up for whatever reason.

"We can't sleep 'cause Gwyffindor's scared." Albus said with a glum look and Harry softened immediately.

He lifted Albus up and pulled the little boy onto his lap, taking Gryffindor with one hand. He addressed the toy: "Why are you scared Gryffindor?" and Albus giggled as Harry paused, pretending to wait for the toy to answer.

"He says he's scared that the Giant Squid from Hogwarts is going to snatch him away from my bed with its long tentacles and turn him into a merperson forever!" Albus finished dramatically with a scared expression on his face.

Harry took a moment to process what he had just heard and handed Gryffindor back to Albus, who hugged the toy to his chest.

"Where did you hear that Al?" he asked, suspecting the answer.

"James told me all about the evil Giant Squid and how all the merpeople in the Hogwarts lake are actually kids who were too naughty. Is it twue that Professor McGonagall sends three students a _week_?" Albus finished and gave his father a questioning look, Gryffindor now tucked under his arm in the toy's usual spot.

Harry shook his head and gave Albus a gentle squeeze. "Al, how many times have I told you not to listen to James's stories about Hogwarts? None of them are true."

"Really?" Albus asked innocently, his hand rubbing his eye tiredly and resting on the side of his face. A second later, he slipped his thumb into his mouth as he gazed up at his father.

"Really. Anyway, how could James possibly know? He's never been to Hogwarts has he?"

Albus considered this for a second, his thumb still in his mouth. He removed it when he'd decided how to respond to that and his little hand waved emphatically as he spoke. "But he said that Teddy told him all this stuff and he wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I had to give him some of my toys to get him to tell me! Even my Quidditch figures!"

Harry frowned at this revelation and decided he needed to have a talk with his oldest son in the morning. He shifted Albus on his lap, so his son was sitting sideways and able to look at him while he spoke. Albus leant into him, thumb back in his mouth, clearly exhausted.

"Ok Al, I promise that the Giant Squid is not evil, the merpeople living in the lake have always been merpeople and that everything James has ever told you about Hogwarts is not true." Albus blinked at him disbelievingly then removed his thumb again.

"You sure? I don't wanna be sent to live in the lake if I'm naughty at Hogwarts." Albus' lip trembled. "I can't even swim prop-ly yet." Harry smiled at his young son's mispronunciation.

"Of course not. I've met the merpeople and they assured me that they definitely aren't Hogwarts miscreants." Ok, so the last part wasn't true as Harry didn't speak Mermish, but the rest was.

"You've met the merpeople?" Albus asked in awe, sitting up a little straighter in Harry's lap.

"Yep, when I was in my fourth year." Harry smiled at his son who looked excited and eager to ask more questions, his tiredness momentarily forgotten.

"But what about the man-eating giants what live in the forest? James said they sometimes come into the Hogwarts grounds and squash all the peoples outside." Albus was looking frightened again.

"Man-eating giants? Where does James get these silly stories from?" Harry said tickling Albus. Albus giggled in response. "There aren't any giants in the Forbidden Forest because they like to live in huge valleys where they have more space. And I'm pretty sure giants don't eat people anyway."

"So there is _no_ giants in the forest?" Albus asked, very seriously.

"None at all." Anymore. Harry added the last bit in his head as a distant echo of 'HAGGER!' came back to him.

"I guess they got scared off by the massive snake didn't they?" Albus asked quietly, looking down at the floor and shivering. Harry cuddled him close. Albus had been completely terrified of the snakes when the family went to a muggle zoo for the day (although Harry swears he recognises the Brazilian Boa Constrictor there) and James knew this.

"There's a bit of a theme occurring here isn't there? I promise there are no massive snakes at Hogwarts either." Albus looked up, relieved. "Is there anything else James has told you about Hogwarts?"

Albus thought for a moment as he fingered the soft spines on Gryffindor's tail and leaned into Harry.

"Yes! He told me that there's a secwet passageway what leads from Hogwarts all the way to that sweet shop we went to at Chwistmas in Hogsmeade!" Albus' tone of voice suggested he had found this story of his brother's the least believable.

Harry thought for a moment about that last one before pulling Albus close to him.

"Can you keep a secret?" he whispered into Albus' ear and Albus nodded fiercely. "That one is true. But don't tell James yeah? Let's leave him thinking it's just a story he made up."

Albus gave his father a wide smile before he gave in to an enormous yawn, his thumb going back to his mouth.

"So do you think you and Gryffindor will be able to sleep now?" Harry asked as he stood up and lifted Albus onto his hip. Albus responded with a sleepy nod as Harry started to carry him upstairs towards his bedroom however, when they were halfway up, his head jerked up.

"Daggy?" his voice was rather muffled through his thumb. "How do you know about da secwet passage?" he asked casually.

"Well it was all thanks to some friends of mine actually, they told me about it." Harry replied as they arrived at Albus' room.

"Uncle Won and Aunkie Herminey?" he asked, his head tucked into the crook of Harry's neck and his thumb still firmly in his mouth.

"No, no it was some different friends. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs their names were." Harry spoke as he lowered his son into bed and placed Gryffindor in his arms, the thumb now removed. Albus looked awestruck as Harry carefully pulled the duvet over him and sat on the edge of his bed.

"They sound cool!" was his response.

Harry was silent for a second before giving Albus a sly grin. "You mean, cooler than Ron and Hermione?" Albus started to protest but Harry interrupted him. "I'll have to tell them that you said they weren't cool, Albus." He pretended to be cross but Albus laughed.

"Gwyffindor wants to kiss you goodnight Daddy." Albus said as he thrust his toy dragon into Harry's face.

"Ok, goodnight Gryffindor." He pretended to kiss the toy back before tucking him in next to Albus. "And goodnight Al." he added, kissing Albus on the forehead too.

"Night Daddy." He murmured as sleep took over.

Harry wondered if he had made a mistake by telling Albus about the secret passageway. He thought this over for a minute before deciding it had been a good decision; after all, third year wouldn't have been anywhere near as fun without that one eyed witch and her humpback.

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of tooth-rotting fluff for a change! ;) originally wrote this in 2011, went back and improved it before uploading (my pre CC headcanon was that Al was scared of snakes and had a stuffed dragon named Gryffindor, I like that even more now it ties in with his original bewilderment at becoming a Slytherin! I might touch on that more with him as a teenager in a future story) 
> 
> follow my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/littlerose13writes) for updates: littlerose13writes


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